Monthly Archives: June 2016

Pull Out All the Stops 5

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Royal Festival Hall, London  6 June 2016

Margaret Phillips

Margaret Phillips closed the 2015/16 season of the RFH organ series with a magnificent programme spanning 250 years, beginning with Nicolas de Grigny’s Suite on Veni Creator where reeds were often to the fore. Fantasia in G (Piece d’Orgue) is a lovely example of JS Bach’s ability to surprise – the contrasts between the light and playful opening and the relentless driving passage which longs to be resolved at the end were given full effect in this performance.

The remaining pieces were all from three giants of the 20th Century organ repertoire.  The first half was closed with effective symmetry as Durufle’s Prelude, Adagio et Choral vare sur le theme du Veni Creator  took us back to the source material of the opening work.

In a description of the evening’s concert we were promised an “exploration of the organ’s nethermost regions”! This was certainly the case throughout the concert with a wide range of registration from the quietest strings, and burbling flutes through to fiery reeds and full chorus. It was particularly noticeable in the hugely entertaining 18 variations by Jean Guillou. As an introduction to an exciting world of timbre, texture and rhythm this piece is highly recommended. The horizontal layout of the pipework in the hall also added an extra spatial dimension to this music.
Although Dupre’s Prelude & Fugue in G minor is in some ways written in more conventional fashion it is nevertheless an interesting and technically demanding work.

Throughout the evening Margaret’s ease with, and thorough knowledge of this particular instrument and repertoire was evident. This was again demonstrated with a beautifully understated performance of a gently rhythmic and spacious encore, Shalom, by Toon Hagen (organist in Zwolle) – a lovely contrast to the dramatic ending of the Fugue to send us on our way

Over five concerts an impressive variety of music has been presented in wonderful performances by some fine musicians on this most remarkable organ. The 2016/17 series of “Pull out all the stops” begins on 3rd October with Jane Parker-Smith.

Stephen Page

Mozart in Russia

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Kino Teatr, St Leonards-on-sea, 4 June 2016

S Pullen

Sophie Pullen’s delightful operatic evening was entitled Mozart in Russia but could as easily have been called Wanderings in Opera-land. It seemed to assume we were all opera buffs – well, some of us are – and that we would recognise arias not only without introduction but also without translation or programme notes.

She made it easy enough for us at the start. A bright confrontation between Suzanna and Marcellina in Mozart’s Via resti servita and Suzanna’s gently seductive Deh vieni, were easily recognisable but the following duet for Lisa and Polina from Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame was less familiar though beautifully sung. Olga’s act one aria from Eugene Onegin suited Amanda Martikainen liveliness and sense of humour but the leap into the Barcarolle from Les Contes d’Hoffmann seemed to lead us in an entirely different direction.

If most of the opening arias had been based on intimate characterisation we were back on firmer ground with Donizetti’s All afflitto e dolce il pianto from Roberto Devereux. This is a wonderful work which is performed all too rarely and this lovely aria gave a brief hint of its real strengths.

The first half came to a close with Mira o Norma, which would be familiar to most, and another tribute to the fine duet work from both singers.

The second half gave up all pretence of logic and simply brought us a clutch of pieces, splendidly performed. Bernstein’s Candide is fiercely difficult to sing but they made light work of Little Women and the old Lady’s aria Easily Assimilated.  I had hoped Sophie was going to sing Glitter and Be Gay – some other time perhaps? She did however give us two arias by Massenet, one from Manon and the other from Werther – neither of which I could trace easily, but both were easy on the ear. Amanda gave us a conversational rendition of the Seguidilla from Carmen, and the evening closed with the Flower Duet from Lakme, which presumably everybody knows if only from TV ads! The encore proved lively but incomprehensible.

Helen Ridout had provided the accompaniment from the piano throughout and was allowed to show her more personal style in fine performances of Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse and Ginastera’s  Danzas Argentinas I and II, the latter adding a little spikiness to an otherwise romantic programme.

Kino teatr

The Kino Teatr is a fine building, remarkably comfortable and welcoming. It is a pity the acoustic is hard and could show up the tiniest flaws in any voice. Thankfully this was not a problem for Sophie Pullen and Amanda Martikainen, whose ample voices often over-powered the space but never uncomfortably so. It would be good to hear it for a lieder recital. Anybody offering?

 

Romantic Classics – Bexhill Festival of Music

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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, 2 June 2016

Tzu-Yin Huang

Tzu-Yin Huang is a formidable and engaging young pianist, whose approach to Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto brought clarity and excitement to what can too easily be a romantic wallow. The slow, powerful, slightly ominous opening demonstrated the authority she can command and the weight of sound she can rouse from the Del La Warr’s piano. She seems to have an instinctive ability to unite clarity of phrasing with innate passion, thus attacking the ear and mind at the same time. It was enthralling and I am only sorry I did not catch her winning performance at the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition.

The evening had opened with a finely articulated reading of Smetana’s Overture to The Bartered Bride. The acoustic is always a problem in the De La Warr Pavilion but seemed somewhat better on this occasion, though there is still a real disparity between first and second violins where the first are outside and the second within the proscenium. The brass and wind seemed to carry better but this may simply have been the choice of works which were better suited to the building.

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony is a favourite of Brian Wright’s and he brings a loving attention to detail as well as letting rip where needed. The second movement had an intense melancholy which verged on depression, with the horn solo seemingly in another world, far removed from those of us in the hall. The fury of the final movement seemed at times to tip over into madness and this was totally convincing – there is, after all, not a long way between this manic-depressive state and the desolation of the end of the Sixth Symphony.

A wonderful evening – thoroughly enjoyed by a packed house. I know these events are very expensive to mount but surely Bexhill could run to them a little more often?

CDs/DVDs May 2016

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Beethoven Symphonies
ARTHAUS 102175/6/7
Dvorak Symphony No8
BR KLASSIK 900145
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mariss Jansons

The Beethoven symphonies are issued on three DVDs with three symphonies on each in chronological order. They were recorded live while the orchestra was on tour in Japan, from the Suntory Hall in Tokyo in 2012. They certainly make for exciting listening and an excellent insight into Mariss Jansons conducting style. The early symphonies are rapidly paced with an enthusiasm we expect of Haydn though there is no let-up in the later works, the cycle coming to a triumphant end with a radiant choral symphony.

The Dvorak is also a live recording and the disc includes Suk’s fine Serenade for Strings and Dvorak’s Karneval overture. The symphony is, as with the early Beethoven, driven with panache and fire.  In all, a fine tribute to both orchestra and conductor.

RSC: Henry V
OPUS ARTE 0A 1206 D

This release completes the set which started with David Tennant’s Richard II and moved through Antony Sher’s fine Falstaff in Henry IV 1&2. Here, more than anything else, it is the ensemble playing which impresses and the frequent intimacy of the relationships. Oliver Ford Davies is a superb Chorus and sets the standard for all that is to come. We now have two sets of these plays, with the equally impressive but very different approach from the Globe. As a Shakespeare lover I am very glad to have both!

Beethoven: Fidelio
Zurich Opera House, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
ARTHAUS 109223

It is Jonas Kaufmann’s heroic Florestan which is the obvious selling point for this new release, though the rest of the cast are equally fine with a sterling Rocco from Laszlo Polgar and a radiant Leonore from Camilla Nylund who is also dramatically convincing.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s conducting is rapid and tight for most of the evening but he dwells on O namenlose freud though the singers do not actually make eye contact. The production by Jurgen Flimm is conventional and the final scene over static but the music makes up for any minor short-comings visually.

Overtures from the British Isles Vol2
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Rumon Gamba
CHANDOS CHAN 10898

It is too easy to overlook works like this and it is a shame that orchestral planners do not slip them in at the start of more popular programmes. After all there is nothing here to frighten the horses and much to enjoy. The Walton, Quilter and Coates will be familiar but it is good to hear Ethel Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate and Walter Leigh’s Agincourt. Let us hope there is still more to come.

Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Piano and Violin
Tasmin Little, violin; Martin Roscoe, piano
CHANDOS CHAN 10888(3)

While I understand the interest in recording the ‘whole’ of something there is a case for indigestion if one is not careful. While I greatly admire these works, I needed to spread out the listening to the three CDs in order to more fully enjoy them. The playing is excellent throughout and the more familiar pieces – the Spring and the Kreutzer – respond well, but I found a need to intersperse with other works in order to enjoy them more. Make the effort – it is well worth it.

Cellos concertos by Hasse, CPE Bach and Hertel
Alexander Rudin, cello & conductor, Musica Viva
CHACONNE CHAN 0813

As we delve ever deeper into the archive it is a constant amazement to find the wealth of fine music still to be discovered. While CPE Bach is familiar few will be well aware of chamber works by either Johann Adolph Hasse or Johann Wilhelm Hertel. Hasse is better known as an opera composer but this concerto comes from a massive collection from Wiesenthied near Wurzburg. It probably dates from the 1720s and is uncharacteristic of his later more florid style. Of the known cello concertos by Hertel, two are recorded here, and both have an improvised cadenza in the slow movement. A useful addition.

Friedrich Theodor Frohlich: Complete String Quartets
Rasumowsky Quartet
CPO 555 017-2

There are four string quartets here and if I had come across them by accident would have thought I was listening to some unfamiliar Beethoven. The works have an interesting history, and have yet to be fully studied and edited. A Swiss national, Frohlich has been accused of poor writing technique and plagiarism, though this is certainly not evident to the listener. The tensions between classical form and a yearning towards romanticism can be felt throughout and it would seem that his lack of success as a published composer was more a matter of circumstances in Berlin where he was working as a teacher than of the quality of the compositions themselves. Well worth investing in this cd.